In the continued advancement of robotics, many techniques have been tried that allow robots to pick up or hold onto objects. These techniques typically are incorporated into a device alternatively called a gripper or a grabber or a hand. The latter term is sometimes used even when it does not look or function like a human hand. For our purposes, the term “hand” means anything that can grasp an object. Some robotic hands have two or more fingers between which an object can be grasped, and various techniques have been employed to provide the proper gripping force without damaging the object in the robot's grasp.
Most robotic hands are controlled by a computer, which requires careful programming to tell the robot how to grasp an object and how hard to hold it without dropping or crushing it. Different shapes and fragilities of objects can require different programming.